Sizewell

31st December 2016

EDF Energy has been given the go-ahead to start using its new £200million dry fuel store at the Sizewell B nuclear power station. The go-ahead, from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), comes two months after the company submitted details of the precautions it would take to safely operate the facility EDF staff have spent the past few months testing the plant inside the state-of-the-art store which covers an area equivalent to a football pitch. The company started planning the new store five years ago after it became clear that the existing facility, which stores highly radioactive spent fuel under water, was nearing capacity. It applied to the ONR in October for permission in the form of a “licence instrument” to start using the new facility and a go-head has now been given. The new Sizewell B store is capable of holding all the spent fuel from the remainder of the expected 60 years of operation of the power station. Inside the store, fuel elements removed from the reactor will be encased in stainless steel and concrete.

Clients have included Greenpeace, Nuclear Free Local Authorities, WWF Scotland and the UK Government’s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.

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